Sky Warriors: British airborne forces in the Second World War

REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD

The Second World War saw the parachute and glider used to deploy troops in large numbers for the first and last time in military history. The technology had simply not been available in the Great War, and by the 1950s the helicopter could transport soldiers into the battle zone with much greater precision.

Nonetheless, British airborne operations in 1940-1945 have received considerable attention, with first hand accounts supplemented by general histories and specialist studies. Just two years ago, for example, Mark Urban’s Red Devils told the story of the Parachute Regiment through the experience of six diverse individuals.

Now we have Saul David’s overview of the subject, Sky Warriors. It begins with a gripping narrative of the first British paratrooper operation, codenamed ‘Colossus’, aimed at sabotaging a key aqueduct in southern Italy in February 1941. It concludes just over four years later, with the airborne forces’ finest achievement, the crossing of the Rhine in Operation Varsity – a mission that helped to end the war in Europe.